Don't start sighing with relief just yet, however. The sign is still slated to come down, unless Landmark and Krakower can convince the city that all future plans for the sign are safe. After that, building officials must approve the plans. For more on the story, check out Patch's coverage here.

I'm no expert, and this is all hearsay, but I spoke to a structural engineer who told me that given what he could see, a plan for securing the sign should not be an issue. One film producer even told me that he could have a crew fix the sign in a couple of hours if given the chance. A contractor standing outside the theatre when I was taking pictures told me he'd seen worse safety violations in home renovations.

Do I have hope? Yes. Am I convinced we're in the clear? Not yet. Though I'm reminded of Dustin Hoffman's fantastic portrayal of producer Stanley Motss in Wag the Dog. When presented with a seemingly insurmountable problem of war, he would joyfully compare it to a catastrophe he had averted when shooting a film.

"This is nothing!" He said at one point. "Did you ever shoot in Italy? Try three Italian starlets wacked out on Benzedrine and grappa, this is a walk in the park!"

I sincerely hope that fixing the sign really is a walk in the park. But I also hope that this issue of sign safety and neglect finally forces the hands of those in control of the gorgeous treasure box theater sitting right in the heart of South Pas. The Rialto is just waiting to be polished and reopened, with its jewels given back to the greater community.

Trust me on this: I've seen very recent photographs of the interior of the building taken from just about every angle. It's even more spectacular than many of you realize, and it's in surprisingly great shape from the pristine light fixtures to the exquisite carved details.

In fact, it's still downright dazzling in there.

You hear that, Landmark? We still have a long way to go, but let's try to channel a little Stanley Motss. "You think you're in a spot?" He asked. "You think this is a tight spot? Try making the Hunchback of Notre Dame when your three lead actors die, two weeks from the end of principal photography!"

10:30pm...Just got in and was eager to check your comments today and was surprised at so few.

My thought is this: Maybe it was because I overheard a couple at dinner talking about their up-coming trip to Europe...and the afternoon at Versailles. So, I thought...we here in the US have no great historical cathedrals, no palaces, no Versailles.

But what we DO have is our own history and it is largely, the history of Vaudeville and Hollywood and film and, yes, Movie Palaces! That is who we are. Isn't that what people want to see when they visit?

So, I say - let us embrace who we are and treat our precious history as what it is. Preserve it. Cherish it. Let it be the PALACE that it is!

Shanna, I have used the Versailles comparison when discussing our great movie palaces. I am struck with how, unlike the European castles, these are the palaces of everyman (and woman.)

Some Guy, you asked what more you can do? In my opinion, keep this in the public eye and make sure Landmark Theaters knows how much we love the Rialto and want it to be saved. I believe too many people think that things are being taken care of behind the scenes and they don't have to worry about the place falling to the wrecking ball. To that I point to the fall of Los Angeles' historic Ambassador Hotel. (And that had a HUGE preservationist movement behind it trying to stop it from being demolished.) There are countless other examples of LA area buildings that are now gone because people either didn't know or didn't care that they were being allowed to decay into ruin or believed that being on historical registers somehow insured that they were safe.

Write letters. Tweet. Talk about this. Spread the word. Demand action. Know anyone with deep pockets and a love of cinema? Get them involved. And by all means, join Friends of the Rialto.

Search Glimpses of South Pasadena

Laurie Allee

Writer. Photographer. Mom.

The History of Glimpses

In December of 2007, after many years on the west side of Los Angeles (and at least a third of those years spent stuck in traffic on Pico Boulevard) my family settled into a happy little house in South Pasadena. This daily blog covered over 4 years as I put down roots in my new home town. While I no longer blog every single day, I add new posts every week.

About This Blog

The thumbnail view:

For over 4 years, I presented a picture a day from South Pasadena, California -- an incorporated city within the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. All photos up to November, 2008 were taken with a Fujifilm Finepix E900 camera. I added a Fujifilm Finepix S2000HD megazoom in December 2008, a Nikon D3100 in 2010 and a Lumix DMC-DS8 in 2011. I shot with them all. In August 2010 I joined the iPhone camera craze and included pictures captured by my phone. I regularly cropped images and used basic editing software to adjust the brightness, intensify the contrast, and increase color saturation. Other than that, all images came straight from the camera with minimal alteration. (If I couldn't have done it in a darkroom, I wouldn't do it with a computer.)

In 2012 I took a break from the blog. I came back in 2016 and now post weekly with images from my Nikon, Lumix and iPhone 6.

The bigger picture:

Consider it a love letter to the place I call home.

You can click on any picture to see a larger version.

All photos and prose on this blog copyright Laurie Allee. Reproduction without written permission is prohibited. (Plus, it's really uncool.)

LA: Other by Laurie Allee

LA:Other. Inside the City ... Outside the Box. Check out my LA Stories, Photos and Video.

Elsewhere...

May, 2016: Thanks to the dedicated group of you who have continued to email me about resurrecting Glimpses, I am back! Check weekly for new posts, and be sure to visit the brand new Glimpses of South Pasadena Community Forums and start a conversation.

July, 2014: It's been a long haitus but I'm ready to get back to my blogging roots! My new blog LA: Otheris officially launching in September. This blog will be very similar to Glimpses, but will include all of Southern California as a subject, not just my beloved back yard. I am also going to post a few video pieces as well as still photography, which will be cross posted on YouTube. (And, of course, there will be my usual commentary.) Also, as much as I loved daily blogging, I've got too much on my creative plate to keep it up at LA Other. Less is more, right?

Thank you Charlie's Coffee House for hosting my photo exhibit, South Pas: Observed. From October 2011 through January 2012 my pictures graced the walls of the best place in town to get a cup of coffee!

Read the nifty story on photo bloggers Petrea Burchard, Ben Wideman, Kat Likkel and little old me featured in the September, 2011 issue of Pasadena Magazine.

Great Books by Local Authors

Great Books by Local Authors

Great Books by Local Authors

Great Books by Local Bloggers

Novel lovers, look out! Everybody's favorite San Gabriel Valley daily photoblogger Petrea Burchard takes us on a journey back to King Arthur's 'hood in her wonderful debut novel Camelot and Vine. (If you don't fall madly in love with her smart-ass narrator, you definitely deserve to be put into an iron maiden.) Be sure to keep up with Petrea at her legendary blog, Pasadena Daily Photo, AKA: Living Vicuriously.

And while we're on the subject of great takes on old themes, be sure to pick up a copy of Margaret Finnegan's delightful debut novel, The Goddess Lounge -- undoubtedly the kookiest, most wonderful riff on Homer's Odyssey ever written. Margaret never ceases to inspire and make us laugh at her blog Finnegan Begin Again. Her book is magical, silly, smart and a wonderful love letter to the all the goddesses among us.

Kevin McCollister of East of West LA blows our minds with haunting images of Los Angeles. But since we can't put his blog on our coffee table, we can buy his fantastic book. I believe Kevin's images truly capture the quixotic and often heartbreaking soul of LA. Don't take my word for it, see what The LA Times had to say.